The 6986-Mission Commander from the 1989 Space Police subtheme was the largest classic spaceship I owned. With 478 pieces its 54 studs long and 36 studs wide. 70816-Benny’s Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! Has almost twice as many pieces, but is only slightly longer at 60 studs, and slightly wider at 44 studs, plus 8 more studs with the wings extended.

It almost exactly the same size as 6973-Deep Freeze Defender which has slightly fewer pieces.

With only a 16 page instruction book one of which is the cover picture, the build is pretty quick (averaging over 30 pieces per page) the ship comes together pretty quickly. The colour scheme of Black, Bright Blue and Transparent Red looks really good, and the slightly open structure along the middle provides an easy handle with which to pick it up for swooshing. That said; the open structure also seems like a fair amount of wasted space compared to 70816 and other newer sets.

The rear cargo bay is pretty big; with the very useful curved black and blue wall sections it quickly builds to a good sized box. This holds the two prison cells (one of which is occupied by the Blacktron bad guy), and space for the second Space Policeman. Again it’s lacking any details – another vehicle could be parked in here, or some consoles, controls and even a seat would make it an excellent control centre.

The cockpit opens up, and the pilot can drive out the transport vehicle, which can be used to transport the prison cells (presumably to a more permanent storage base). There are also 2 cool mini flyers under hinged transparent canopies, and the cargo bay is held into place by hinged plates locked in by fold down rudder pieces.

The spaceship looks really good, and is very swooshable, but the lack of extra detail, particularly in the cargo bay does hurt it in comparison to 70816, and even 6973 which has a little more to each of the sections.